He’s not doing this because he suddenly grew a conscience. He’s doing it because he grew ambitious, and he thinks that kid makes him a fucking man. That little girl a pretty accessory in the photographs, Claudia’s a pawn. Meanwhile, she’s feeding her daughter in a tiny Brooklyn apartment, trying to build peace out of a life she fought tooth and nail to build.
The game he’s playing, she can’t win, not with the kind of money he has, and definitely when she hasn’t a clue she’s being played this hard.
My head is pounding, the screen, not a good miser with a concussion. There isn’t a fucking thing I can do tonight anyway. So, I power it down.
I wake half onand half off a sofa not made for a man my size to sleep on with a pounding headache.
I glance up as Nalani skates out the apartment door with a bag of peas and lettuce?
“What the fuck?” I grumble under my breath.
“Just pretend you see nothing and close your eyes, man.” Dash chuckles.
“Paul fucking Bronski has chickens,” I say, rolling to my side, and trying to get comfortable.
“Goat.” Dash sighs like he’s in love.
“Goat with chickens,” I remind him before pulling the blanket over my head.
Another set of feet, heavier this time, pad across the floor, and a door shuts.
“Fuck this,” Dash grumbles.
He’s not wrong, I think as I try to ignore my pounding head.
I hear him trying to be quiet as he moves around the kitchen. Getting a drink, I suppose, and wonder if there’s any pain reliever in the place, when it hits me that the league rules are that I’m out for a minimum of seven days if the docs decide I have a concussion.
I’ll miss our next home game against Florida, and the away games against Colorado and Utah too.
Johnson’s going to be in the goal and fuck us.
I chew on that for a few too many moments and decide I need to get the hell up and deal.
I throw the blanket off my face as Koa walks out of the bathroom.
Dash grins from where he’s leaning against the counter. “So, how was the Hayward reunion?”
I sit up and see he’s dressed in Hayward University gear, the same school he and the little brunette attended. “Must be nice to have a change of clothes. Slept in this monkey suit.”
“Found a pile of my old Hayward sweats and tees in?—”
Dash cuts Koa off. “Calling dibs on, like, anything other than what I’m in.”
Koa narrows his eyes at him and then looks around.
“Nalani snuck out of here with a bag of greens and frozen peas. If she’s hot for Paul Bronski, you better step up your game, KOK.” Dash chuckles as he heads to the room where Koa and Nalani slept, no doubt grabbing some clothes.
I stand up and adjust myself, “How’s the shower?”
“I piss with more pressure than that shower,” Koa says looking at the door.
“Hot at least?” I ask, knowing he’s going to leave and go find the girl.
“Lukewarm at best,” he says as he walks toward the door.
As I’m grabbing a drink of water Dash walks out and asks, “How do I look?”
He’s in a maroon Hayward hockey tee that’s cut off, barely covering his chest, and a pair of joggers that give new meaning to what the girls all say about gray sweatpants.
